Wisconsin reverses decision to use shot clock in prep basketball

December 1, 2017 / Athletic Administration • Basketball

On second thought, Wisconsin high school basketball won’t be using a shot clock anytime soon.

The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association’s (WIAA) Board of Control voted today to rescind a decision made earlier this summer to implement a shot clock in high school basketball, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The plan was to use a 35-second shot clock for both boys and girls basketball beginning with the 2019-20 season.

But over the last five months, administrators argued that they were given little opportunity to provide input on the issue. Their main concern was the cost of implementation — about $2,000 to install clocks and pay operators.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Friday’s vote was no surprise to those who have followed the process.

At the board’s August meeting, a motion to rescind the June decision was put off until the WIAA’s executive staff made its area meetings throughout the state. At those meetings, executive director Dave Anderson told schools to hold off on the purchase of a shot clock if they had not already purchased one.

When the board convened in October, it heard enough to schedule a vote to rescind its shot clock vote.

This fall, our sister publication, Winning Hoops, published an editorial supporting shot clocks at the high school level. Its surveys, along with surveys conducted by state associations, regularly show that about two-thirds of high school basketball coaches support using a shot clock.

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